Object Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
Feast of Mondawin |
Place of Origin |
Minnesota |
Artist or Maker |
Mayer, Francis Blackwell (1827-1899) |
Date |
1857 |
Materials |
Watercolor on Paper |
Dimension Details |
Height: 12" Width: 15 3/8" |
Description |
This scene depicts a ceremony of thanksgiving taking place within a Sioux lodge. Native Americans in tribal dress are seated and standing around a cauldron positioned above a fire. The two figures in the center are holding vessels of maize or corn as an offering to their deity. In 1851, Francis Mayer acccompanied the government's treaty delegation to Traverse de Sioux and Mendota, Minnesota, where he had the opportunity to draw scenes of Native Americans that he witnessed on the journey. The Sioux Uprising in 1862 diminished the public's interest in scenes depicting noble natives, and this painting is one of the few from Mayer's trip west that he was able to finish and sell. It was commended in the New York art magazine "The Crayon" and subsequently published in Volume VI of Henry Schoolcraft's "History of the Indian Tribes of the United States (Philadelphia, 1851-1857)." Mayer led a prolific and successful artistic career, and died in Annapolis, Maryland in 1899. |
Provenance |
Hirschl & Adler, New York, New York Sold to The Dietrich American Foundation, 1969 |
Object Name |
Watercolor |
Object ID |
7.8.841-1 |
Search Terms |
paintings |